Mercy - St. Louis, Heart & Vascular Hospital and Emergency Department

All-private rooms deliver new standard of cardiac care

Mercy - St. Louis, Heart & Vascular Hospital and Emergency Department

St. Louis, Missouri

Meeting demand for advanced cardiac care, the new hospital includes 96 inpatient beds, as well as diagnostic testing, outpatient services, rehabilitation care and physicians’ offices all in one location. Consolidating these services within the medical campus was complicated by the need to include a Level I trauma center. The new structure also had to align with each level of the existing hospital, with less than 12 foot floor to floor height.

In response to the requirement for all private rooms, Christner studied a variety of nursing unit layouts that would optimize work flow and delivery of care. The selected configuration is a triple-corridor plan, which reduces steps for nurses and diminishes noise for patients. Three parallel corridors run the length of the building with patient rooms located on the perimeter corridors. The center corridor is designated for visitor and supply traffic, reducing noise and congestion past patient rooms. Nurse stations are distributed in pods with appropriate supply/support rooms nearby. This new model reduces travel time for nursing staff by 30% from previous models, allowing more time for direct bed-side patient care.